What Can Be Done about North Kurdistanis?

By: Adil Al-Baghdadi

It seems that this question is now besotting Turkish political commentators across the spectrum of the Turkish print and Internet media.

The question refers to the steady - albeit slow - pace of progress in realizing the rightful Kurdish demands and their impact on Turkish state and society.

This is the natural order of restitution, which has been long overdue.

No longer able to engage the machine of the state against the Kurdish nation— thanks to the EU adaptation packages—Turkey’s ultranationalist elements, including the traditionally mainstream right-wing journalists, are now resorting to whipping up Turkish public opinion against the Kurds.

This is particularly crucial in the days leading up to the Kurdish New Year Newroz, or Nevruz,^* where it’s expected that the Democratic Society Party (DTP) will organize a very big Kurdish New Year’s festival, invitations to which have been sent to both Jalal Talabani and Mas’ud Barzani in their capacity as the presidents of Iraq and Kurdistan, respectively.

Let’s look at how this has been dealt with by the regular columnist in Hurriyat, Mehmet Y.Yilmaz, who wrote:

“The invitations, which were prepared by the Diyarbakir president of DTP, were written in Kurdish and refer to Diyarbakir by its Kurdish name, "Amed." And they address northern Iraq's tribal leader Mesud Barzani by the title "Seroke herema Kurdistan" or "Kurdistan regional leader." It is clear that some people who speak about democracy, equality, and brotherhood entertain a much different situation than the one they speak of in their dreams! What can I say? May Allah grant them wisdom.”

But, actually, to whom should Allah the Almighty give wisdom?

Is it to the people who have been at the receiving end of the most repressive assimilation policies and bizarre penal codes which have been used to imprison a Kurdish woman activist for saying “Good Morning” in Kurdish in a small women’s gathering?

Going by this writer’s advice, should Allah also grant wisdom to many of Turkey’s world-renowned writers, thinkers, and conscious journalists who have a thing or two to say about the right path their country should take to avoid alienation and disfranchisement of the North Kurdistanis in order to save Turkey from division and ethnic upheaval?

It defies logic that a country which is a candidate for EU and is best suited to be a role model for all Muslim countries still pursues aggressive policies, and harbours deep-seated and inexplicable enmity, towards the Kurds who played an important role in creating the Turkish state.

It is clear that the North Kurdistanis have been emboldened by their brethrens’ achievement in South Kurdistan, and have managed through their courage and unwavering struggle to overturn many repressive laws and break every taboo that has been set by 80 years of Ataturk’s vision of homogenizing Turkey into one ethnic race.

There are many lessons to be learned from the history of nations and their struggle against oppressors—which was not the least, by any standards, for East Timor, which achieved independence after 80 years of brutal occupation.

So may Allah give Mr Mehmet Yilmaz and others like him the wisdom to understand that no force can stop the Kurdish nation in its unyielding quest for freedom in any of the four parts of Kurdistan, including North Kurdistan in Turkey.

^*Nevruz in Turkey has been introduced by the then prime minister of Turkey, Tansu Ciller, as an old Turkish celebration in order to stem the rise of Kurdish nationalism and as a symbol of their resistance. However, it’s celebrated only by the Turkish high-ranking officials in government and military!!